Contact Information

About Me

I am a consultant and catalyst for open source biology, synthetic biology, the international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) program, DIYbio and open innovation models. I am also faculty and co-chair of the biotechnology and bioinformatics track at the Singularity University, located at the NASA Ames campus, near Mountain View, California.

My goal is to help people better understand life science and apply it to relevant global challenges.

Richard Smalley's Prioritized List of Top 10 Global Challenges

Interested in Genomics and don't know where to start?

Genomics is as complicated as you want it to be. Essentially DNA instructs cells to make things, including more of themselves. Everything else is a technical detail. Rather than teach endless reams of stuff, I ask young people or others starting out this:

Knowing that with DNA one can program any cellular component, or any organism in existence today, or has existed (eg. dinosaurs), and possibly new components or organisms that nature didn't select for, what do you want to create or do?

Business and Consulting Activities

Pink Army Cooperative (open source biotech)

I am a co-founder, along with Jayson Tymko and John Carlson, of the world's first cooperative biotechnology company, the Pink Army Cooperative. Open source biotechnology can move faster than big pharma and make personalized medicines affordable. Today you can order a personalized genetic screen for a few hundred dollars. In five years it will be possible to get custom-made personalized cancer treatments. It's not magic. It's just that biotech has gone exponential, like Moore's law.

My consulting work (and life) is managed through Q Squared, an Alberta-based consulting company, founded in 2009. Inquire for rates and availability.

Singularity University

I co-chair the Biotechnology and Bioinformatics track at the Singularity University (SU), an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to prepare leaders for accelerating technological change. See http://singularityu.org for more information.